My thoughts and our mulling around inside of the bridge was interrupted by Barry, who is still holding out a motion tracker. The tracker is pinging softly, meaning that there's unidentified movement nearby. The Captain walked over and gazed down at the tracker's screen.
"What's the position, Raashad?"
"One contact, twenty meters to the East. It may be in the Medical lab."
"Alright... Steedman, take Rashaad and Brewster and go check it out." The Captain turned to the rest of the squad, "Private Allen, take Martz and three others and head to Engineering. This tub has to have a black box or flight recorder or something that will tell us why the crew shut down the core. Head down there and grab it."
"Yes sir," responded Allen.
"On it, sir," I responded as well.
We began to head out of the bridge, not before hearing the Captain yell at two Technicians to try and boost the local radio signal. As the group of five went down the middle corridor to engineering, the three of us hung a left at the junction outside of the bridge. Barry led the way with his motion tracker out in front, with Joseph in the middle and me covering the back side as we snaked our way to Medical. The pinging of the motion tracker slowly sharpened in tone, reaching a climax as we reached the pressure door leading into the Medical lab.
Again, Barry and Joseph grabbed each door and pulled them back. My shotgun was seated firmly against my collarbone, ready to fire at a moment's notice. The doors were opened, revealing a dark, dead Med lab. The operating table in front of us was a distressing sight, as it was covered in dried blood and dirty bandages. Our shoulder lamps casting long shadows against the wall as the light passed over the used operating tools left on numerous trays littered about the operating station.
I looked over to Barry, "There's nothing here."
Barry held up his motion tracker, which was still pinging. Turning a dial, he looks up and points to a dressings closet in the left corner. We slowly approach the closet, which was slightly cracked open. As I creep forward towards the door, Barry's motion tracker continues to rise in pitch, indicating that we are right on top of something. Just as I place a hand on the door, something moving inside could be heard. I move to the side as Barry and Joseph take positions right in front of it, Pulse Rifles aimed right at the door.
"Ready?" I whisper.
They both nod. I pull open the door with a yank, and-
"AAAAH! WAIT! DON'T HURT ME! PLEASE!"
Inside, a woman with dirty blonde hair and a messy Alhambra flight jacket was seated, her hands up, covering her face from our shoulder lamps. Her jeans were soiled and ripped, her hands covered with streaks of dried blood.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed Barry, "Hotel 1-1, this is 2-3, we just found an Alhambra crew member!"
"Great job 2-3," the Captain buzzed in over the radio in response, "Any idea who it is?"
I step into the closet and grab the woman by the arm, helping her to her feet. She looks frightened as her eyes dart around between the three of us, trying to get a good idea of who we are. I look down to the left side of her jacket and make out the name stitched out on the tag.
"It's Cartwright, sir," I respond, "Lindsey Cartwright. It's the Head Science Officer. She's a bit shaken up but otherwise she seems okay."
"Outstanding. Get her back to the bridge, we need to try and piece this mess together."
We lead Lindsey back to the bridge from Medical. She's slow to get up at first, but she eventually gets her bearings.
"Th-thank you," she responds quietly, "I don't... I wasn't sure if anyone would come."
"Hey, don't worry," I said, "We plan on getting you off this rock."
"Oh thank... thank God."
We reached the bridge. Some of the squad was still hanging out near the cockpit glass when the three of us returned with a fourth. The Captain was all smiles upon seeing her.
"Miss Cartwright, glad to see you somehow stuck it out. Are you alright?"
"Yes... yes, I'm fine."
"Captain," the radio fuzzed, this time with Bishop on the line, "A word with you in private."
The Captain held up a finger to Lindsey, "Um, hold on one sec." He walked over to the far corner of the bridge, motioning for me with a wave of his arm to come over as well. We huddle up and hold out ear pieces close to make sure that this call is as private between Marines as possible.
"Yeah, go ahead Bishop."
"Captain, ask her how she got back on board the Alhambra. From her logs, she was last seen with the rest of the crew in the cave system. If the ship's core was shut down prior to them leaving, then how could she have gotten back on board?"
"Alright Bishop, we'll ask."
We both head back over to Lindsey and begin the impromptu Q&A.
"Miss Cartwright, how did you get back on board the ship? The ship's core is shut down."
"Captain Reese shut down the core when we made it back from the cave system. He and I were the only ones to escape with our lives."
"Why shut down the core anyway?"
Her eyes darted around for a few seconds before answering with a sigh, "The Captain lost his nerve in the caves. Seeing the last of his crew get torn to pieces right in front of him broke him. I tried to stop him from shutting the core down, but he was raving mad at that point. I took shelter in the part of the ship that these men found me at while he went crazy. I don't know where he is now."
The Captain sighed, putting his hands to his hips and looking out the cockpit glass to the valley below. He turned to her and continued, "So do you know if he's alive?"
"I do not know. I've survived these last several weeks on water and granola I scrounged from the medical room, I don't know how he would have survived."
"Captain!!" A panicked voice on the radio yelled, breaking the mood.
"Okay, thank you Miss Cartwright." The Captain turns away and answers the radio call, "Hotel 2-1, Martz? What is it?"
"We are under attack in Engineering! THE BUGS ARE ON BOARD THE SHIP!!" The sound of Pulse Rifles firing peppered his transmission, a distant yell adding a punctuation mark to the end of his call.
"Well. Shit."
"Steedman, take these two and go help out 2-1. Get them out of there. The rest of you! Defensive positions! I want motion trackers out, I don't want a single thing to get in here unnoticed." The rest of the squad mounted up from their relaxed positions around the bridge and took formation.
"Miss Cartwright, you stay with me. I don't want you out of my sight."
As I started moving out with Barry and Joseph, I caught a glimpse of Lindsey's face. The face that has shown at least a bit of fright was now taken by one I least expected in this situation. Anger.
As leave the bridge in a state of upheaval as we quickly make our way to Engineering. The far off sounds of Pulse rounds being fired echo through the empty halls of the ship, only to be broken up by our boots marching double-time down the metal corridors.
We reach the large pressure door to Engineering, already opened by 2-1 as they made their way down here. We stepped into Engineering, and was greeted by a sight that was definitely not something in line for USCSS regulations. Along the walls and across the floor was large piles of, all I can describe as, day-glow superglue.
"Good god," responded Joseph, "What is this shit?"
"Whatever it is, don't go touching it."
I pick up my right leg and stare at the trails of goop that my boot had picked up from the stuff. As I place it back down, I am suddenly greeted with flashes.
Unpleasant flashes. Flashes of that meeting I had with that company man regarding the video of LV-426. I look at a panel to the right that is covered with this... secreted substance. Suddenly, a face appears in it. The face of a malnourished girl.
"Hey... Marcus...."
The face was fucking talking to me.
"Marcus..."
I stepped in, the face slowly emoting my name as it ekes it out. Her eyes shoot open, revealing the glazed over eyes of my sister Alexis.
"MARCUS!"
Something grabbed my left arm. My right, which had my finger on the trigger despite all those years of practicing good trigger discipline, instinctively pulls back on it, letting out the large BANG of a Twelve gauge shell being fired.
"What the fuck dude!?" Yelled Barry, "Why'd you do that?"
"I.. what?" I gasp out.
"You were spacing out on us, man," said Joseph, "Now's not the time for a section eight. You okay?"
"Yeah... yeah I... just thought I saw something."
The mood was broken up again with the continued sound of firing, this time much closer than before.
"Come on, fellas," Joseph said, "Stay frosty. Let's get to 2-1."
We continued down the goop-filled corridor before hanging a left. There, we see Hotel 2-1 crouched around a large control panel overlooking the main Engineering bay. In the center is the glowing ship's core, but surrounding it is tons upon tons of more of the glowing ooze. We run up to the squad, which has Allen typing away furiously, the small screen on the panel throwing up numerous "Access Denied" messages.
"About god damn time you guys showed up! Marcus, you know how to do this shit, right?"
"Yeah yeah!" I exclaim, "Just leave it to me!"
"All we need is the log data. Get it and then we're bugging the fuck out of here!"
As I take Allen's position, I begin typing away, only to have my attention suddenly be turned towards the violent buzzing noise that is rapidly approaching me. I look up just in time to see the glowing red eyes of a large black, winged creature making a beeline right towards my face.
I step back to bring my SPAS-12 up, but I'm too slow. Suddenly, I am on my back as the creature has mounted me, trying to bite my face off. I throw my hands up and grab the pointed appendage on its forehead, forcing it away from me as it tries to fight forward. I quickly take note of its sharp, inch-long canines that are trying to take a bite out of my flesh.
"Oh shit! One's on Marcus!"
In one swift motion, Allen kicks the creature right in the gut, sending it flying off of my chest and to the other side of the catwalk. Allen pulls up his Smartgun and lets off a long burst. Green blood sprays everywhere as it lets out a guttural scream. The smoke clears, and the creature laid on the catwalk dead, its tongue flopping out of its mouth and its red eyes losing their glow. There are long cracks along its body where it was shot, indicating that it has some sort of natural armor. I see flashes again, this time to those bugs from LV-426. It's fuzzy, as I never did get a good look at those from the video, but the similarities are... disturbing.
"Jesus fuck..." I yell, rubbing my eyes to try and make the flashes go away, "That's what those things are?"
Allen reached down and helps me up, "Yeah man, they've backed off for now, but when we first got here they were wall-to-wall in here! They tried doing that exact same thing to Stevie-"
"LESS TALK, MORE TYPE!!" Screams Martz. He lets off a barrage of Pulse fire before removing the now-empty magazine, "I plan on living past today, God damn it!"
I hurry back to the console and go through the key sequencer. I locate the flight recorder and force it to eject the black box. Immediately, a nine-inch long box is ejected from the console, an LED numbers sequence lit up on top showing that it's in working order.
I hold it up, yelling, "I got it!"
"We got the black box! Alright, 2-1 fall back to the bridge! We're Oscar Mike!" Martz, Barry and Joseph peel out first, the rest of the squad following suit. Allen covers the back with Smartgun fire. As we leave the catwalk overlooking the Bay, my eyes go wide as I see a large wave of black motioning in towards our position, with dots of red peppered throughout, staring at what is most likely their next meal.
"Dan, MOVE!" I scream. He falls back, but his Smartgun suddenly stops firing. He quickly tries clearing the chamber, but he stops cold as he sees the LED readout read "000." He immediately throws down the Smartgun and the headgear, and pulls out his pouch of M40 grenades. We both begin running down the shadowy corridor as those things are undoubtedly right on our asses. We double-time it, our boots thundering down the corridor as the eight Marines head back to the bridge.
As we reach the main corridor to the bridge, Allen suddenly finds himself grabbed from behind. I turn around to see several of the creatures surrounding him, creeping out from the spaces underneath the walkways. As he spins around, holding a grenade in hand, one of the things takes a bite out of his right calf. Screaming, Dan falls to the walkway as the rest of them begin to tear into him.
I begin to open fire at the bugs that aren't too close to him. Shell after shell, pump after pump, I drop four of them before I realize that I need to reload. I stumble backwards onto my ass, fumbling around with the red shells as two of the creatures turn their attention towards me. They slowly stalk forward as I creep back along the walkway.
"Marcus..."
I look past the two bugs to Allen's upside down blood stained face. He still has that grenade in his hand. With his thumb, he popped off the plastic top to reveal the primer button. He smiled sadistically.
"Get going."
He pressed down on the primer. Immediately, I spring to my feet and ran as fast as I could. I didn't turn to face the resulting explosion, instead I found myself propelled by the force of the blast down the corridor near to where the rest of 2-1 was waiting. I landed with a thud, spinning around on my behind to look back from where I came. Nothing remained of either Allen or those creatures that were tearing him apart.
"Okay... shit's officially screwed up here," I breathed out. Barry runs up and helps me to my feet.
"Fuck... was that Dan?"
I nodded.
"Oh... oh god damn it."
We stumbled back into the bridge, where the Captain is standing there waiting.
"You have the box, right?"
I patted down on my left leg pouch on my BDUs. A plastic-sounding thump responded.
"Good, because we're leaving. Lace up anything else of importance, we're bugging out."
I was actually about to ask why, but I stopped when I looked and saw that Barry's motion tracker is screaming out at the massive signal heading right towards the bridge. Forty-plus signals, essentially a massive wall of white dots were at twenty five meters, and closing rapidly. We began the mass excursion back to the cargo bay. Heading through the galley and crew quarters, I am reloading my SPAS-12 as Lindsey walked up next to me.
"Quite ferocious, aren't they?"
I glanced over, eyebrow cocked at her sudden quip. She gave me quite the neutral look.
"Uh, yeah, that's one way of putting it."
Joseph pulled along side, "Fucking pissed off is more like it."
"Cut the bullshit," grumbles the Captain, "Brewster, you've got driver duty."
Joseph sighed, "Yes sir."
The radio buzzes on, "Hotel, this is Goose One. Are you guys on your way back?"
"Almost there, Parker. Baseplate, we are on our way out. We have Cartwright and the flight recorder. Advise over."
"Hotel 1-1, this is Baseplate. Fall back order April. I repeat: fall back order April. Your position is seriously compromised."
"Yeah, no shit, Sir. This ship is crawling with bugs. We already lost one Marine, and I do not plan on losing any more."
"Negative, Captain. We are reading massive heat signatures coming out of the cave system in the valley. Early estimates put us at about two hundred tangos converging on the Alhambra. Get your asses out of there!"
"Two hundred!? Holy Jesus!!" Martz was cracking.
We reach the cargo bay and work our way out through the rows of containers.
"Keep it together!" yelled the Captain, "Goose One, prep for immediate dust off!"
"Roger that, Captain." The dropship is seen making a pass around the Alhambra as it lowered its landing skids. As the squad piles into the APC, I see a familiar and unwelcomed sight: a wave of blackness sweeping down across the valley. Unlike what we saw in Engineering though, this wave was about a hundred times bigger.
"Time to go! Steedman, get your ass in here already!"
I climbed in and the APC door closes shut. Joseph takes the controls and wheels the APC around in a rush. He pulls up to the dropship and backed in rather haphazardly, banging up against the inside of the dropship as he over extends his reverse.
"Easy, guys!" Buzzed Parker, "These things aren't cheap you know!"
"Just get us out of here already!"
"On it! Ramp closing."
The grinding of the ramp is the sound telling us that we're almost out of here. I feel a nudge as the drop ship takes off from the ground and begins its ascent into the stormy sky.
"Holy fuck, look at them all," the Captain gasped. The swarm of black engulfs our landing area and attempts to follow us, but we are pulling away too fast for them to follow. The Captain is so amazed by the swarm, he doesn't notice on the adjacent screen that Parker was heading straight for an open cliff face along a mountain. Parker was too busy looking back at the swarm to concentrate on flying the fucking dropship.
"Parker!" I screamed, "UP FRONT!"
"Huh- OH SHIT!"
Parker swiftly makes a sharp bank away from the mountain spire and corrects his course back to the Constaguana.
"Holy Jesus... sorry about that."
The Captain slumps back into his chair and breathes a heavy sigh of relief, "Parker, your wings are so mine once this is over."
"Hey, I said I'm sorry!"
"You're not wiggling your way out of this one, Lieutenant. I ought to-"
The conversation was cut short as a piercing roar could be heard from outside the dropship. Everyone froze, the only sound being the clattering of random objects in turbulence. Lindsey was the first to speak up.
"Oh great, it's him."
We all turned our attention to the Science Officer, who has taken a seat up near the drivers position past the Captain's post.
"You morons woke him up."
"'Him'?" Questions the Captain "Who's 'him'?"
Another roar, this time much closer than before. Parker broke the tension over the radio.
"Sir, I've got a big fucking radar signature here... and it's heading right for us."
The storm buffeted the chariot side to side as the three continued their search for the mysterious object that shook Canterlot to its foundations. Scratch and Claw flew their hardest to keep the chariot and their Princess level, while Luna peered through the rain for anything that may be out of the ordinary.
"Your Highness!" Scratch yelled over the gusts of cold wind, "Is it wise to continue searching in this weather?"
"We are not stopping until we find that ship!"
"Princess, the Everfree is the densest forest in all of Equestria! If it landed in there, it could be anywhere!"
"Do not worry, it has no business going into the Everfree. I would wager that it has business much farther to the south."
"The South? What, you mean Dodge Junction?"
"Further South, Scratch."
"The Badlands?! What in the world for? You don't think that the Changelings have anything to do with this, do you?"
Luna pondered answering. Before she could, the same noise that the ship emanated as it flew over Canterlot could be heard through the storm. As it grew louder, Luna's proud smile grew as well. The smile vanished as another, unexpected sound pierced the stormy sky. The unmistakable roar of a dragon.
The chariot wheeled around and dropped in altitude as the two specks of light in the front of the object could be seen. The object appeared to be gathering speed, as if trying to evade a predator. Her assumptions would be correct as an orange and red dragon was tearing through the rain-filled sky, heading right for the ship.
The dragon matched the ship's speed, and just as the object appeared to be unfurling what Luna could only describe as arms, the dragon latched onto the side of it with his hind legs, put his forelegs around the "neck," and then to the surprise of not only the Princess but her two guards as well, took a bite out of the "neck."
The "head" went flying off towards the ground, as the rest of it began an uncontrollable spin. The dragon screeched triumphantly as he left the smoking carcass to its fall. The Princess watched in stunned silence as the object spun out of the sky.
Suddenly, a large chunk was separated from it as the main body seemingly opened up. A large box-like object tumbled out of the smoking wreck as both objects began their rapid descent to the surface below. The part that was most likely made to fly crashed in the forest to the West in a massive fireball, while the separate box-like object made a crippling crunching noise as it barreled through countless trees before finally coming to a stop.
The three remained frozen in the rainy night sky, in absolute awe of what they just witnessed. The Princess of the Night broke that silence.
"To answer your question, Scratch... yes. Yes I do believe the Changelings have something to do with this."